Bhopal: The image of Madhya Pradesh has taken
a beating due to the recent spurt in incidents of crime, be it
the murder of RTI activist Shehla Masood or the killing of
young IPS Officer, Narendra Kumar allegedly by the growing
mining mafia in the state.

"This is a new trend in Madhya Pradesh and a very
dangerous one. Such incidents were unheard of in the state and
it is a matter of grave concern," former Director General of
Police (DGP) SC Tripathi told a news agency today.

These things normally take place in Banda-Kanpur region
of Uttar Pradesh, but this a new thing for the state, he said.

"It (Shehla`s killing) was a well calculated murder in
which first the target was eliminated and later to destroy the
evidence, the shooter was gunned down," he said adding though
it is a matter of probe that whether he was killed because of
gang rivalry, accident or something else.

The CBI probe is moving in a right direction but it has
to recover the weapon to prove that the bullet used in the
murder came out of the particular pistol or not, he said.

"This is a dangerous trend in Madhya Pradesh as earlier
professional gangs were involved in crimes like kidnapping or
dacoity, but never an assassin was hired for eliminating
someone and that too by a woman. I never came across such a
thing in my over three-decade long career," Tripathi said.

Endorsing the view, former Director General of Police
(DGP) AR Pawar said, "even I have never come across an
incident like Shehla’s murder in which professional shooters
were engaged by a woman for eliminating another female."